Colby Covington was not shy about celebrating his teammate, Jorge Masvidal’s win over Ben Askren at UFC 239. Covington is one of the fighters circling the welterweight title and he added to Masvidal’s comments that Askren is now 0-2 in the UFC. Askren was undefeated with 19 wins prior to the loss to Masvidal but was nearly stopped by Robbie Lawler when he made his debut at UFC 235.
“He finally got exposed in front of the whole world,” Covington told MMA Fighting. Askren is a former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion but had yet to fight in the UFC until ONE traded him for Demetrious Johnson back in November of 2018. Covington says his wins make for a “padded record” and that, “He hadn’t fought anybody. He was coming off a knockout loss to Robbie Lawler.”
Askren’s fight with Lawler was met with controversy over what seemed like a bulldog choke that had the referee stop the fight in Askren’s favor after he recovered from Lawler’s attack that looked like it stunned Askren. Coming in as a former champion from another promotion seemed to warrant matching him with ranked fighters like Lawler and Masvidal, but Covington says, “We’ve got to write off the 40-year old nerd Askren. He’s out of contention.” For the record, Askren is 34-years-old.
As far as his own title contention, Covington is set to face Lawler on August 3 when the UFC returns to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The possibility of facing his own teammate in Masvidal seems to be something the two have already accepted as part of the fight business. “We’re happy for each other but at the end of the day this is a business and this is a one-man sport and we both know that,” Covington said about the possibility of facing Masvidal.
Do you think Covington and Masvidal will wind up facing each other?
